This debut mystery from a fresh voice in Southwestern fiction stakes out the common ground between Tony Hillerman, Elmore Leonard, and Cormac McCarthy.
In a remote corner of the Chickasaw Nation, tribal Lighthorse policeman Bill Maytubby and county deputy Hannah Bond discover the buzzard-ravaged body of Majesty Tate, a young drifter with a blank past. They comb Oklahoma’s rock prairie, river bottoms, and hard-bitten small towns for traces of her last days.
Tate was seen dancing with Austin Love, a violent local meth dealer fresh out of prison. An Oklahoma City motel clerk connects her with an aspiring politician. An oil-patch roustabout and a shady itinerant preacher provide dubious leads. Ne’er-do-wells start dying off.
A fluke lead propels Maytubby deep into Louisiana’s bayou country, where a Cajun shrimper puts him on the scent of a bizarre conspiracy. He and Bond reunite in the Chickasaw Nation for the eventual face-off at Nail’s Crossing.
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“You’ll want to make a sandwich before you start this book, but don’t wear your good shirt because while chasing down criminals, Bill Maytubby, a vegetarian, music-loving, poetry-reading, vintage truck–driving detective takes us across the arid plains of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, over into Arkansas and Texas and then down into the swamps of Cajun Louisiana, going deep into the compelling landscapes of tiny towns, and while he’s got you trying to connect the dots, Maytubby is likely to say something food-spitting funny. A visually delicious read.”
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Barb Johnson, award-winning author of More of This World or Maybe Another